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U.S. chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra is leaving his post at the White House.

Chopra, who was sworn in on May 22, 2009, works closely with U.S. Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra. Prior to taking his position in the Obama administration, Chopra was Virginia's Secretary of Technology. In the White House, according to his official bio, his job included "fostering new ideas and encouraging government-wide coordination to help the country meet its goals from job creation, to reducing health care costs, to protecting the homeland."

News of his impending departure was first reported by Fedscoop. (… Read more

U.S. government-backed battery supplier Ener1 has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the third U.S.-backed energy company to file in as many months.

Ener1 posted a notice today stating that it "has reached agreement with its primary investors and lenders on a restructuring plan that will significantly reduce its debt." This action will pave the way for up to $81 million for recapitalization, the company said.

A "pre-packaged" Chapter 11 case was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York. Ener1 is planning to complete the restructuring process within … Read more

Jeff almost didn't make it out of court this morning to be on the show, but he squirms out of Lady Justice's grasp just in time to join us, maybe with a few minutes in between to update his Facebook.

We'll talk today about Facebook's Timeline feature coming to a profile near you (whether you like it or not), last night's tech-heavy State of the Union Address, and who's responsible for the state of John Kerry's face.

Obama's made lots of promises in his speech this year, not the least of which is a pledge to give more technology training to Americans looking to expand their workforce skills.

He also mentioned an end to digital piracy and will host a Google+ video hangout on January 30 with questions accepted through the White House YouTube channel.… Read more

Apple earnings reach record highs, Xbox rumors ramp up, and Obama tackles energy and tech industry concerns in his State of the Union address.

Links from Wednesday's episode of Loaded:

Solid-state drives (SSDs) have improved considerably over the years, to the point where they're now a highly preferable alternative to traditional hard drives.

Indeed, a good SSD is usually significantly faster, and it consumes less power--a big consideration for laptop users. Also, because it has no moving parts, it's much less susceptible to damage.

Alas, SSDs still cost quite a bit more than hard drives. But they're getting a bit cheaper all the time, and here's a prime example: Newegg has the Patriot Torqx 2 64GB internal SSD for $54.99 shipped. That's after redeeming … Read more

Despite the spectacular collapse of solar panel maker Solyndra, which declared bankruptcy after receiving more than half a billion dollars from the Obama administration, President Obama said this evening that he doesn't want to give up on government-backed alternative energy projects.

The president used the opportunity of his State of the Union address to say it's time to "double down" on the concept but pointedly avoided mentioning Solyndra by name.

"The payoffs on these public investments don't always come right away," Obama said. "Some technologies don't pan out--some companies fail. But … Read more

The wife of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and the co-founder of Instagram are among the notable guests for tonight's State of the Union address by President Obama.

The presence of Laurene Powell Jobs and Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger signals that at least a part of the State of the Union will focus on technology, which President Obama has long argued can help improve the country's fortunes.

Releasing the guest list for the State of the Union address has increasingly become a way for the White House to call attention to an issue or initiative, using an individual … Read more

New year, new resolutions.

If one of your resolutions is to get a better computer so you can be happier with your life, I'd suggest you double down on exercising, or better yet add eating healthy to the list, because chances are your computer is working just fine.

What you need might just be a new internal storage device and your computer will be as good as new, or maybe even better. This is especially true if you have a system (be it a laptop or desktop, running Macs or Windows) that's 3 or 4 years old and uses an SATA hard drive as its main internal storage device. Most existing computers fit this category, by the way.… Read more

Editor's note: This story originally ran in 2009. In the spirit of the holidays, we thought we'd run this touching piece again.

On a recent Christmas Eve, Jeff Martin found himself forced to explain to a Canadian general why, when Santa Claus passed through Toronto that night, Google Maps had placed the city in the United States.

Martin, then a senior marketing manager in Google's Geo group, was part of a huge team of people involved in the joint U.S.-Canada North American Aerospace Defense Command's annual NORAD Santa tracker program, a long-running effort to … Read more